Patriarch Emmanuel III of Baghdad attends Pope Benedict XVI’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in this 14 March 2012 file photo. The 85-year-old prelate recently resigned for health reasons. (photo: CNS/Paul Haring)

Chaldean leaders gather for election of new patriarch(Vatican Radio) The Synod of the Chaldean Catholic Church has convened in Rome to elect a new patriarch of Babylon. The 15 bishops of the Chaldean synod are meeting under the direction of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. After a spiritual retreat on Monday, 28 January, they will precede to discussing the future of the Chaldean Church, which is centered in Iraq, and the election of a successor for Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, who resigned in December at the age of 85. Tuesday will see the first round of debate and discussion on the current situation of the Chaldean Church in the patriarchal territory and wider Diaspora. Wednesday will see the first elections take place according to the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches…

March of solidarity for the hostages in Mesopotamia(Fides) Christians, Muslims, Kurds, nongovernmental organizations, public officials, churches leaders and leaders of mosques all assembled for a march of solidarity with victims of kidnappings. The 24 January initiative was held in Hassake, in eastern Syria, where the civilian population has faced considerable hardship and suffering. In the region a precarious balance between the opposing forces (including Islamist militias), the Kurdish forces, the Syrian army is lived, fighting each other. The population pays the price that took to the streets — more than three thousand were present — with banners and slogans to demand “a future of peace and hope for Mesopotamia.” The participants, who gave birth to the “Association of solidarity with the families of those kidnapped,” marched from the headquarters of the Syrian Orthodox Church to the city’s Palace of Justice, expressing their suffering and their demands. A memorandum was presented to the Public Prosecutor, asking him to carry out his tasks and asking the local government to provide protection to the innocent citizens…

Syria crisis: ‘Bodies of executed men’ found in Aleppo(BBC) The bodies of dozens of young men, all apparently summarily executed, have been found in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, rebels and activists say. At least 65 bodies were found on the banks of the Quwaiq River in the western district of Bustan al Qasr, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported. Most had their hands tied behind their backs and gunshot wounds to the head. A captain in the rebel Free Syrian Army said some of those who had been killed were just teenagers. Few had means of identification. People were gathering at the bank to see if they could find their missing relatives, A.F.P. reported. “My brother disappeared weeks ago when he was crossing [through] the regime-held zone, and we don’t know where he is or what has become of him,” said Mohammed Abdul Aziz…

Ukrainian Orthodox metropolitan enthroned(Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.) His Eminence Metropolitan Antony was enthroned on 26 January 2013 as the fourth metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States of America during a magnificent and traditional ceremony at St. Andrew the First Called Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Silver Spring, MD. The Enthronement services were attended by more than 500 faithful and about 70 clergymen of the Metropolia and many visitors from across the country from various Orthodox and Catholic jurisdictions…

Orthodox Church in America enthrones metropolitan of All America and Canada(O.C.A.) On Sunday, 27 January 2013, His Beatitude Tikhon, archbishop of Washington, metropolitan of All America and Canada, was enthroned at Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Washington, D.C. In attendance at the Enthronement were members of the Orthodox Church in America’s Holy Synod of Bishops and guests representing several Orthodox churches in North America and abroad. Metropolitan Tikhon was elected O.C.A. primate at the 17th All-American Council held in Parma, OH on Tuesday, 13 November 2012…

Israel gave birth control to Ethiopian Jews without their consent(The Independent) Israel has admitted for the first time that it has been giving Ethiopian Jewish immigrants birth-control injections, often without their knowledge or consent. The government had previously denied the practice but the Israeli Health Ministry’s director-general has now ordered gynecologists to stop administering the drugs. According a report in Haaretz, suspicions were first raised by an investigative journalist, Gal Gabbay, who interviewed more than 30 women from Ethiopia in an attempt to discover why birth rates in the community had fallen dramatically. One of the Ethiopian women is quoted as saying: “They [medical staff] told us they are inoculations. We took it every three months. We said we didn’t want to.” It is alleged that some of the women were forced or coerced to take the drug while in transit camps in Ethiopia…